The new cultivar is a product of a planned breeding program. The new variety resulted from a crossing performed in 1993 in North Taranaki, Nth Is, New Zealand. The seed parent is the unpatented variety, Magnolia lilliflora ‘Nigra’. The pollen parent is the unpatented variety Magnolia hybrid ‘Vulcan.’ The new variety was selected 2002, by the inventor, Mark Jury at North Taranaki, Nth Is, New Zealand in a group of approximately 15 seedlings.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar ‘JURmag4’ by vegetative cuttings was performed at a commercial nursery in New Zealand and has shown that the unique features of this cultivar are stable and reproduced true to type on successive generations.